THE FAMILY COURT PROJECT HAS COME TO A CLOSE.
Effective 6/1/08, Family Court Chronicles has become inactive (announcement), and
no new information will be added. The page below is retained for
archive purposes, but it could be out of date. Upon request,
the webmaster will
continue to correct significant errors and will consider
removing information that is destructively obsolete.
(Email: FamilyCourtGuy (at) gmail.com) See
Glenn Campbell's home page for his still-active websites.

This section was my workspace for philosophy essays between July 2006 and April 2008.
I call this "Prehistoric Kilroy" because it gave me practice for more
disciplined essays in Kilroy Cafe.Also see my philophical blog and Twitter feed.

Issue #39, 12/5/2006

Theory and Reality

By Glenn CampbellFamily Court Philosopher

The real world is big and very complicated. To deal with it,
we develop theories. These are simplified models of
reality that we keep in our head and that tell us what to do
in situations we have never encountered before.

We know that it is not a good idea to fall off a cliff or
jump off a building, not because we have ever done it
before, but because our theory says it is bad. We've fallen
off of smaller things, and we know it hurts. We know
something about the physical coherence of our body and how
falling can disrupt it, so we try to avoid it whenever
possible.

The problem with theories is that they can't possibly model
all of reality. The best they can do is describe one tiny
corner of it, and even that theory may be subject to change.

Modelling human behavior can especially difficult. Just when
you think you have people all worked out, they do something
to surprise you. Modelling your own behavior can be
equally frustrating. You thought you wanted one thing, but
it may turn out later that what makes you happy is something
completely different.

The essential nature of theories is that they are tentative
and incomplete. It is our own little brains that are making
them up, and these brains are tiny compared to the
immenseness of the universe. For our theories to be useful
and not lead us astray, we have to be constantly testing
them against reality. We need to be thinking about them all
the time to make sure we haven't overlooked something.

Sometimes, we think we have a pretty solid theory, but then
some little bit of information comes along that seems to
conflict with it. When this happens, our natural inclination
is to brush the fact aside. We dismiss it as an anomaly, or
we pretend it doesn't exist. Actually, we should be paying
very careful attention to these little things, because they
could become big things later.

We can become heavily invested in our past theories, especially if
we have made commitments based upon them, and when we fall
into those ruts, it can become especially difficult to recognize and
absorb those irritating little anomalies. We can easily
become "stuck" on our theory, even when reality begins to
diverge from it.

In fact, this is one of the greatest dangers of life.
Reality goes one way, but you go another. At best, you may
not be getting the most you can from reality. At worst, you
may be heading for a crash.

Reality has its own independent structure. It follows its
own rules, not ours. We tend to forget this sometimes,
especially when our emotional needs are very strong. We
expect reality to do what we want, and we pray to God to
make it happen.

The fact is, reality doesn't give a damn about us. It is
going to do what it is set up to do, without regard to our
feelings. It is the job of our theories to match reality, in
all its cruelty and complexity, not the other way
around.

If a tree falls in the forest, and there is no one to see,
does it really fall? Yes, it does. Huge and complicated
processes take place outside of our view, and by the time we
actually interact with, say, the forest or a person, there
are a lot of things in motion that we may not have a clue
about. It is good to get an overall impression of the
environment—whether there is danger, for
example—but you also have to be cautious and
observant. No matter how good your theory may be, there are
a lot of things you don't know yet and perhaps that you will
never know.

Reality requires humility. You should never march in with
your bright, shining theory and think you have things all
worked out. You never have things all worked out. The best
you can do is choose a workable theory for now, and
then see where it leads you. Later, based on what you
really encounter, you will modify your theory or perhaps
throw it away altogether.

Reality is a big, rich, wonderful mess, and you don't do it
justice if you think you understand it all.

—G.C.

Links

This topic was covered in a different way in
our Glossary entry on Reality.